Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication content such as voice, data, and other media. These systems may be multiple-access systems capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing the available system resources (e.g., bandwidth and transmit power). Examples of such multiple-access systems include code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) systems, 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems, and orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems.
Dual connectivity is a new innovative network architecture that allows a User Equipment (UE) to connect with more than one base station and/or network cell simultaneously. The UE can connect with a Master Cell Group (MCG) and as Secondary Cell Group (SCG) at the same time by connecting to a Master Evolved Node B (MeNB) and a Secondary Evolved Node B (SeNB) at the MCG and SCG respectively. The simultaneously connected MeNB and the SeNB are counterparts in DRX operations. Because the MeNB and SeNB have separate and independent DRX operations for Dual Connectivity enabled UEs, the UE may remain active (i.e., wasting power and signaling resources) longer than necessary if these DRX operations are not aligned. Thus, in order to realize the full benefit of proposed dual connectivity networks, there is now a need for enhancements in current 3GPP LTE standards to coordinate and align DRX operations.